


The Night Before Everything Went to Hell

by Verocity



Category: DBSK|Tohoshinki|TVXQ
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 20:25:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verocity/pseuds/Verocity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was, always, a calm before the storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Night Before Everything Went to Hell

All in all, it had not been a good day, YunHo thought as he pulled on his nighties and dumped himself on his bed. YooChun absolutely refused to talk to anyone throughout rehearsals, JunSu was snappy - _JunSu_ was _snappier than ChangMin_ , ChangMin was displacing all his stress by singing too loudly, too high, too nasally to be healthy, and JaeJoong...

YunHo heard his door creak open. He realized that telling whoever it was that he was sleeping would ruin his act, and so he opted not to react. A new weight climbed cautiously on YunHo's bed and lay behind him.

"Psst. YunHo," came a voiceless whisper that nevertheless had 'JaeJoong' written all over it.

"Mmph," YunHo answered non-commitantly. Sometimes, JaeJoong could take a hint.

" _YunHo_ ," JaeJoong whispered more urgently.

Apparently, this was one of those times when JaeJoong had every intention of throwing hints out the window. YunHo rolled over and blearily opened his eyes. "Yes?"

"We need to talk."

YunHo shrugged his shoulders as best as he could. He ignored the way his muscles protested having to move despite being in bed. "What about?"

JaeJoong averted his eyes and bit his lip. He studiously looked anywhere else instead of meeting YunHo's eyes. "Nice pillow covers. New?"

"New two months ago," YunHo answered gruffly. "From ChangMin."

"Sweet of him," JaeJoong said, distracted.

Normally, YunHo would have waited patiently until JaeJoong ran out of things to get distracted about. Normally, YunHo would have played verbal games and beat around the bush until JaeJoong gathered the courage to say whatever was on his mind. Normally, he would have smiled and cajoled at every half-concealed attempt to make him laugh out of place so JaeJoong could smack him with righteous indignation that YunHo wasn't taking him seriously enough.

But it had not been a good day. YooChun refused to talk even to him, JunSu snapped at him seven times in one practice session, ChangMin's voice broke when they were rehearsing _Love in the Ice_ and his shoulders shook and he looked like he was about to break down but miraculously held it together, and JaeJoong had been studiously trying to keep the peace between everyone.

JaeJoong had laid an arm around YooChun's shoulders and steered him to a corner while shooting apologetic looks at YunHo. Had tried to add humor to JunSu's rudeness so that somehow, some way, the edge in them could be blunted and not draw blood. Had restrained YunHo from hugging ChangMin when he looked like he was about to cry, because any form of affection from any of them would have pushed the youngest over the edge. And YunHo knew in his bones that they were tiptoeing on a very fine line.

It was JaeJoong who drove all of YunHo's worries home. JaeJoong had always encouraged and controlled minor group tensions at the insistence that honesty was more important than false camaraderie. A group that never had internal tension, he always said, never had the chance to learn to live with each other.

These days, normality was a vast, _vast_ distance away.

"If you don't want me to get any sleep, just say so," YunHo said a bit harsher than he intended. But he acknowledged that maybe he wanted to be harsh, even just tonight.

JaeJoong was silent for a while. Long enough to YunHo to turn his back on him and curl up even tighter as he hugged his Bambi tight for some comfort that he didn't know he'd lost.

He felt JaeJoong press his forehead against his back. "I just want you to know. You know, before everything explodes so you'll be prepared. Or as prepared as you can be in one night."

YunHo raised his head. Suddenly, sleep felt so far away. "Prepared for what?" he asked. But he knew the answer. Knew deep in his gut. He'd been the leader for far too long. The signs were there. He'd seen them. He understood them all.

JaeJoong kept talking to YunHo's back. "JunSu's in my room. Said he can't stand sleeping in the same room as ChangMin anymore. He said ChangMin just doesn't know when to stop sniping at him. And YooChun was goading him along, and he used some English words that I don't really know but they didn't sound very nice. I've never known things to be this bad."

YunHo admired the way JaeJoong's voice betrayed nothing of how he felt about everything he'd just said. He could have been talking about the weather for the calmness in his voice. YunHo didn't move. He couldn't sleep, but he was too tired even just to roll over and face JaeJoong again. "What are you going to do?" he asked softly. He looked blankly at the corner of his Disney-print pillowcase.

"I don't know," JaeJoong admitted with a heavy sigh. "But... YooChun and JunSu are going to push through with it. I thought they were just joking before. Sure, bitter jokes, mad humor... but YunHo, they were talking calmly a few minutes ago. They're not joking anymore. They're really going to push through with the lawsuit."

YunHo realized with the suddenness of embarrassment that the cloth beneath his eyes had been slowly growing damp. But JaeJoong wasn't in the position to see, and if he wiped at them he'd draw the wrong kind of attention.

They shared the quiet.

YunHo made up his mind. "Look out for them," he said with a solidness came from he didn't know where. He felt JaeJoong nod against his back.

"And you'll look out for ChangMin?" JaeJoong asked, and YunHo knew that it was the most important question JaeJoong had ever voiced.

"Of course I will."

The quiet stayed longer this time. After what felt like hours later, JaeJoong pulled himself out of YunHo's bed and tiptoed to the door. "Who knows? Maybe someday we'll all get back together again." It was the last thing JaeJoong had ever told him in person.

The morning after, everything went to hell.


End file.
